Electrical system
Basic wiring principles Electrical components (i.e. batteries, lights, etc) can be connected in either series or parallel. Knowing when to connect components in parallel or in series is determined by what voltage you want to achieve. Lower amperage means thinner wire is required. Hence increase voltage if want to maintain the same wattage. Series For batteries/power sources, when connected in series, the voltage of the power sources is added while the amps is maintained. (Hmm I think the amperage is dependent on the resistance of the circuit. Parallel For batteries/power sources, when connected in parallel, the voltage of the power sources stays the same, while the amperage is added. Earthship system setup Simple setup (e.g. in the simple survival) #Solar panels #Charge controller #Batteries #DC + AC split off ##For DC: breakers -> DC outlets/components ##For AC: inverter -> breakers -> AC outlets/components Note: The battery + charge controller + breakers + AC inverter + AC outlets + DC outlets are all put together in a specially made tool-box in a standard Simple Survival, called a "one room power supply". Complex setup (e.g. in a global model) Essentially the same sequence of wiring/components in the Simple Surival, but: *Every major component/part of the electrical system passes through a combiner box. *Instead of a "one room power supply" box thingy, instead: **The batteries + charge controller are on the room in a box, near the solar panels. **The AC inverter + AC/DC breakers are mounted on a POM (Power Organizing Module). The combiner box is also on the POM (I think?). **Rooms have standard AC outlets. Usually there are no DC outlets, instead any DC components are simply directly wired via the DC breakers. Grounding Earthships and any system with dangerous amounts of electric power, are strategically attached to a grounding wire. An earthship can be grounded by simply driving some rebarb wire 3 feet or more into the ground, and then attaching any grounding wires to that. As a guide, its is recommended anything over 50 watts needs to be grounded. Solar panels and some boxes containing components need to be grounded. Gauge size The size of a wire is measured in gauges, such as 2, 4, 6, 10, 12 ,14. Smaller numbers are bigger wires. Examples of gauges in an earthship: *2 is used between batteries. Batteries may need to give a massive current at any moment. *4 between battery and inverter. *6 going to breaker boxes. *10 is used for DC through the house. *12 is used for AC through the house (max 20 amp load). *14 can be used for AC if low amerage (max 15 amp load). Miscellaneous *Red usually means positive, black usually means negative. That said, need to know the standard practices of the country you are in. *Breakers take safely 80% of their rating. E.g a 20 amp breaker should not be loaded by more then 16 amps. Breakers should thus me matched to the guage of the wire. Don't want to have a breaker will not break when the wire will. Charge controller *Bulk- when the charge controller dump electricity (high voltage) into the batteries. *Absorb- when the controller detects the battery is getting full, controller allows a small amount of voltage to trickle in. *Float- an off and on setting to maintain full charge.